Public Versus Private Mobility for the Poor: Transit Improvements Versus Increased Car Ownership in the Sacramento Region

In this study, the authors examined the impacts of car ownership promotion versus transit improvements on job accessibility, work trips, and traveler’s economic welfare by running a travel demand model adopted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). In the car scenario, the zero-car households who were assigned a car had higher job accessibility and larger traveler benefits than in the Base Case scenario. The other households had lower traveler benefits, compared to the Base Case, due to slight increases in congestion. In the transit scenario, all households had gains in traveler benefits and the households without a car gained more than those with a car. The households without a car gained more in traveler benefits in the transit scenario than in the car scenario. The total gain in traveler benefits was higher in the transit scenario. In both scenarios, the changes in total travel time, congestion, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) were small, but mode shares changed substantially.